


Of Teachers and Dead Things

by MidnightQuestant



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Aradia Isn't Dead, Awkward Dates, Dave Being Awkward, Davesprite Is A Thing, Davesprite's Name Is Davis, Humanstuck, I'm Trying To Keep Everyone In Character, Karkat Is A Professor, M/M, Most Of The Strilalondes Are Gay, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, There Are Like Five Love Stories Happening All At The Same Time, dave is an intern, dead things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-07-28 09:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7635028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightQuestant/pseuds/MidnightQuestant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave Strider is an aspiring paleontologist. It's been his dream for years. Now, he's finally getting a chance. He got an internship for university, and he couldn't be more excited. </p><p>Then a surprisingly cute, but undeniably snarky chemistry professor shoves his way in and makes it all the more interesting.</p><p>(Dropped as of Oct 2016)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

I was going to intern at a University for the first time. There aren’t many places that would take a talkative, over-working, aspiring paleontologist. Luckily, they did. Apparently, they have a fairly good program for paleontology and just science as a whole. I was excited. I was always very passionate about paleontology as is, but the excitement of something new happening made me even more ready. 

I would be helping out the professors with work and such. I knew it was a college, so we couldn’t go dig for fossils or other types of skeletons, even though that’s what I desperately wanted to do. It was always such an amazing idea to me. I’ve been interested in it since I was a little kid, and now I’m an adult with an undergrad degree and soon, a graduates degree in the thing I’m most interested in besides music, drawing, and film-making. They’re all great, but I’ve always put more effort and passion into something like this. Paleontology was a better career choice, too. It’s hard to get a job with any of my other interests.

I was supposed to start my internship tomorrow, but I couldn’t sleep. Why couldn’t I sleep? I needed rest since I’d have to wake up even earlier than normal tomorrow. I would’ve wasted my time talking to Davis, my twin, if he hadn’t moved to go live with his girlfriend and one of my best friends, Jade. But, it was almost midnight, so they would probably be asleep. They both had pretty busy lives. Jade was an assistant at a vet, and Davis was living out his dream of being an actor the best he could. He’d been a part in quite a few plays, but he still had to have a regular job. He worked as a receptionist at a help desk for some company that sold boats. It was pretty hilarious. I made fun of him for it all the time, but he knew that I didn’t mean it and it was all in good fun. It was a mutual understanding between us. He’d made fun of my efforts to become a paleontologist, calling me a necrophiliac on more than one occasion.

I thought about calling any of my other siblings (step-siblings included), but they were all busy as well. Dirk was in Australia with his boyfriend having a dandy fucking time, Rose was probably at Kanaya’s or something and I didn’t want to get in the way of any of their lady business, and Roxy was at work right now, being a bar manager and all. I had no one to talk to but the creepy ass puppet in my closet named Cal, that I was able to get from Dirk when he moved down under. The thing was like a leech. It sucked the blood out of my face but was never satisfied and stayed attached. Nasty little thing. In short, the thing scares the shit out of me, but I can’t bring myself to put it in storage or, better yet, throw it away. It belonged to my Bro (who was actually my dad, but we all just called him Bro for ironic reasons).

Now, don’t get me wrong. My Bro was a complete dick. He never knew how to treat anybody, leaving my siblings and I with our respective mothers most days while he went off to do God knows what. He didn’t know how to treat them either.

I don’t want to dwell on that though. I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my phone, making sure all of my alarms were set, I had my schedule set since I’m forgetful and I’ll probably be tired and I don’t want to make a complete ass of myself on the first day of my really important internship, and that I had all the names of the professors in the science department so I wouldn’t forget. Some of their names were pretty interesting. I had a pretty normal sounding name, so it was cool to see people with more unique names than me.

I gave up my search for something to do so I could attempt to go to sleep. I needed it, but I’m not even sure I could shut my eyes. I was nervous and ready at the same time, which left me at a weird disposition. I held my eyes shut, though, feeling myself fall asleep eventually. I woke up incredibly tired, just as I had expected. I groaned for a moment before getting up to get ready and drown myself in coffee so I could at least wake up. I had to make sure I wasn’t a complete wreck.

It was pretty easy to get ready once I poured a least 1.5 liters of caffeine down my throat. I combed my hair, made sure my face was shaved since I looked best like that, and cleaned my shades. I had to look neat and tidy, even if I wasn’t most of the time. The only thing I was ever really organized about was my work because that shit absolutely needs to be organized.

I drove to the school in record time, finally finding the excitement I had for this again. I had to slow my overjoyed roll a bit when I walked in, though. Can’t ruin my cool, stoic facade. It didn’t matter how excited I was, I knew I had to look like I was calm. I had to go to this lady named Ms. Megido. I would be her intern, doing to mediocre work while she taught all about that cool stuff I liked like ancient skeletons and dead things. Her room was room 063, and I made it there in record time. When I looked in the room, a woman was already in there who I assumed was Ms. Megido. I knocked gently on the door, trying to signal that I was there. She lifted her head and turned to look at me. She smiled, gesturing for me to come in, so I did.

Ms. Megido was really pretty. She had slightly tanned skin and really long black hair. Her lips were painted red and her smile was kind. She had a small pendant on her neck, too. It was a small ram skull. She seemed very devoted to her profession. I liked it.

“Hello, you must be David.” She said sweetly, holding out her hand for me to shake. I took it, trying to keep my handshake firm, but not too firm. They need to be perfect.

“Yeah, uh, just call me Dave I guess. It’s what everyone else calls me.” I mumbled a little, then mentally slapping myself for mumbling. You are not supposed to mumble when meeting the person who will be advising your internship. No, Dave, fucking stupid!

“Okay then, Dave, it’s nice to meet you,” She smiled again. I returned the greeting and leaned on the heels of my feet a little. “You’re ready to start your internship, yes?”

“Oh, definitely. Thanks for interning me. I forgot to say that when I got here.” I said back, my shades sliding down my face a little. I quickly shoved them up again. Could I make more of an ass of myself today?

"You're very welcome. Let’s get to the basics first. You’re in your graduate program, correct?” Ms. Megido questioned, turning back to her desk to grab something.

“Yes, I am.” I answered lamely. Come on, Strider, you’re more interesting than that! I, once again, mentally slapped myself right across my dumb face. Backhanded the shit out of myself for being a boring person. 

“Well, here’s some things I need done while I set up my class. Would you mind typing these syllabi and printing them out?” She asked, already aware that I wouldn’t turn her down. I was her intern, I had almost no choice. I grabbed the stack of papers and headed to the computer lab, where all the copiers and printers are stored, as well as the computers. I knew where it was, so I had no trouble getting there. I just ran into some guy in there.

“Why are you in the computer lab three hours before school starts?” He asked, his lisp destroying the sentence, but still remained understandable. Wait, wasn’t he the Computer Science professor? Oh shit, he is.

“I’m an intern, actually. I had to come print papers and this is the only place I knew to go.” I said, trying to make quick excuses.

“Well, there’s a copying room for teachers that interns are allowed in down the hall. I guess you didn’t know that. I’ll let it slide this time. Name’s Sollux Captor.” He said, making me shake his hand. I did, giving him my name as well, but I was growing tired of meeting new people. I wanted to start doing stuff that actually involved, you know, paleontology. I nodded a little before sitting down at a random computer to begin my endless cycle of typing for the day. Actually, no, I had at most three hours left. I had to get typing. 

I began typing the format the best I could, checking over and over for any errors before printing the documents. There weren’t that many, but there aren’t very many people who want to study paleontology. There’s a lot of med students and aspiring teachers, though. I guess I can support that.

I got it all down after two hours of constant typing and printing, saying goodbye to Mr. Captor, and running straight back to Ms. Megido’s room. There was someone else in the room and I tried to avoid meeting anymore people, but failed, being noticed easily. I shouldn’t have worn the red shirt. It’s too flashy. 

“Dave, this is Karkat Vantas. He’s a chemistry professor. I thought you’d like to meet him.” Ms. Megido said, smiling. I couldn’t say no to her. Not only because she was so nice, but because she was my superior. In any other situation, I would’ve said ‘fuck that’ and left, but I absolutely cannot blow this chance. This will look really good on my resume if I don’t screw it up. I put my hand out, telling him my name, but he just quirked one of his eyebrows.

“You look pretty young for a guy with a graduates degree.” Mr. Vantas said, looking me over. I felt myself heat up. I didn’t know if that was good or bad and it was starting to make me nervous. Damn it, Dave’s subconscious, not now.

“Speak for yourself, Karkat. You can be only a few months older than him at most. Hell, there’s even a chance he’s older than you. You two are the same age, but I don’t bother looking into your exact dates of birth.” Ms. Megido said, obviously joking, but striking a nerve with Mr. Vantas. Must’ve been normal for him to do that because Ms. Megido seemed completely unphased when he started spouting off something about his age that turned into chemistry halfway through the rant.

“And that is why Dave cannot be older than me.” Mr. Vantas finished, his shoulders squared. 

“That’s nice, Karkat, but don’t you have a class to attend to? Lat time I checked you don’t have an assistant, so you should work on that.” Ms. Megido said, shutting him down immediately. Damn, Mr. Vantas, Ms. Megido has no time for your inane hogwash, I guess. Mr. Vantas left with an indignant huff and a dramatic turn of his body as he walked out. It reminded me of Davis when he got pissy with someone. Not angry; pissy. Basically, petty anger that he loves to drag out for longer than necessary. Ms. Megido showed almost no reaction, so I assumed it was normal.

“Is. . . Is that normal for him?” I asked meekly, my confidence still not bursting from the seams yet. But then again, when does it ever burst from the seams? Never, that’s when.

“Oh, yeah, it’s more than normal. But, even with all that angry yelling and cursing and long rants about whatever he’s angry about at the moment, he means no harm and is actually a pretty decent friend. There when you need him, giving you space when you don’t. I’m not amazingly good friends with him, but I know some people who are. We just have classrooms very close to each other’s, so we talk often.” Ms. Megido said, tapping the ends of the papers I printed on her desk to put them in a neat pile. “Well, we have some time, why don’t we talk a little? I guess I’ll start. Where are you from?” 

“Oh, uh, I’m from right around here, actually. Not too far at least. How about you?” I replied, sitting down in a chair near her desk.

“I was born in Japan, but I grew up here with my mother and sister. Very nice people, but they don’t like strangers.” Ms. Megido laughed slightly. I don’t understand how she’s not married yet. I mean, she might be, but I can’t see an indication. Her name is Miss, not Mrs., and she has no ring on her hand. And I may swing for guys, but she was fairly pretty and nice to talk to. Who doesn’t like that?

Although, Mr. Vantas was at least a little cute. He had a head full of wavy brown curls, a really pretty set of silver-looking eyes, and a face shape that I find really nice. He had a pretty adorable pout, too, and knew how to dress himself for his job. A simple button-up with trousers. Plain and mediocre, but oddly complimenting to his medium-sized frame. 

And shit, I’m thinking about cute guys when I should be talking to Ms. Megido. She said something about my interests I think? Actually, I need to just play it off like I just didn’t hear her properly.

“Sorry, I don’t think I heard you. Is it too much trouble if I ask you to repeat yourself? I mean, you don’t have to, I’m your intern, I should be taking orders from you bu-,” I started, but was cut off by Ms. Megido. 

“It’s not a problem, Dave. I asked what you liked to do in your free time.” She repeated. So, I was right about the interest thing.

“Oh, uh, besides this stuff, I guess I like taking pictures of really anything, drawing, and music, I suppose. Nothing crazy or special. Do you do anything in your free time?” I reiterated her question to seem like I wasn’t about to break down in embarrassment. She just nodded.

“Why, yes, I do. As rare as my free time may be, I have things to do. I used to enjoy playing an online game with my friends when I was in high school, but then we all went our separate ways and just sort of stopped playing. Now, however, I enjoy watching movies and adventuring. I still have a special place in my heart for Indiana Jones.” She joked. “But, we should start getting ready. The class will be here soon.”

I nodded, getting up and putting syllabi on desks. It was almost an industrialized process, but I could wait for now. Once the year starts I’m sure to have something more interesting to do.

It wasn’t long before people started walking in, sitting down at a desk and chattering. I just stood there, jittery again. What if I screwed this up? I would never let myself forget it. It would probably mess up my degree forever. Nobody in the paleontology community would hire me and I’d be back to square one. I am not letting that happen. I hope not at least. This is the biggest thing right now and I cannot afford to look or do anything else.

“Well, let’s start the day.” Ms. Megido said, standing up and walking to the front of the room. The talking began to quiet when they noticed her, turning to the front. A few eyes darted towards me and I felt my stomach churn. Judgement. They were judging me and I hadn’t even introduced myself yet.

“Hello, I’m Ms. Megido, and I’m your paleontology professor. This is my intern, Mr. Strider.” She started. It felt pretty weird to have a ‘Mister’ in front of my name, but I wasn’t going to say anything.

Well, it’s time to start this internship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you have it. My second fan fiction on this site. I just randomly got the idea and spent a week typing the first chapter out. It shouldn't be too long before the second chapter is released. I just need to type it up.
> 
> Anyways, I was rereading Homestuck and found that part where Dave said he liked paleontology and I was like "wow this is a great idea" and started writing about it, then I made it gay and it became a romance story. Davekat has taken over everything.  
> But, in short, this story is about Dave's fascination with dead things, Karkat being Dave's romantic interest, and a whole lot of Dave's awkwardness.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'll see you in the next chapter. As always, notify me if you see any mistakes in grammar, spelling, or if you have a suggestion :)


	2. Chapter Two

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve started interning at the university. It’s interesting and pretty fun, but I have to admit that it’s tiring. I go home tired everyday. But, Ms. Megido, who has asked me to call her Ms. Aradia instead, is a nice lady. I learned that she and Mr. Captor had been together at some point, but have since separated. Apparently Mr. Vantas is normally angry as well. He’s the grumpy professor everyone is scared of getting. But, according to those that have had him and/or been around him long enough, he gets shit done. That’s good enough, I suppose.

I’ve talked to him a few times, actually, and while he’s grouchy as all hell, he’s entertaining and actually really smart. But, what could I expect from a chemistry professor almost the same age as me? Not much else.

In fact, I was going for my daily bout of Vantas bothering. He went to the break room for lunch and I’d always see him typing away at his computer. It’s rude to look over his shoulder, and I might end up getting in trouble if I did look over at his screen. I just sit across from him, blabbering away until I had to go back to Ms. Aradia’s room.

“Hello, Mr. Vantas.” I said, sitting across from him in my usual spot.

“Hello, Dave. Do you have anything better to do on your lunch break?” He asked, his signature agitated look on his seemingly even cuter face. Since I’ve been talking to him on my own, he’s seemed far more attractive and I don’t know why he’s so hot.

“No, not really. Besides, talking to you is always a riot.” I said, eating the snack size bag of chips I had. I made sure to stay quiet. I had learned that he hated loud eaters the hard way. I was just messing with the bag, but it’s a lesson learned and followed.

“Whatever floats your boat, Strider,” He sighed, going back to whatever he was doing on his computer. I never really payed much attention to how he types, but since I could barely see his hand behind the front of the laptop, I decided to notice things I otherwise would have ignored. He had a really fast typing speed and deft hands to go along with it. The hands of a working man, I’d say.

He really did have nice looking hands. I bet they would be even better if they were a bit more towards mine. . . Nope. Stop it right there, Dave. Now is not the time. He’s practically your boss! You can’t do this right now.

I hadn’t noticed that Mr. Vantas had gotten up until he poked me on my shoulder, telling me that lunch break was over for him. That was new. He usually would leave without much more than a half-assed wave. Huh.

I sat there for a few more moments, but ended up heading back to Ms. Aradia’s room early. I had to get Mr. Vantas out of my head in that way. It was unprofessional.

“Oh, hello Dave. Back early?” Ms. Aradia asked from her death.

“Yeah. There wasn’t much to do, so I came to see if you needed help with anything.” I responded smoothly. Over the couple of weeks that I’ve been here, talking to her has become increasingly easier. She’s actually quite laid back and allows me to relax a little when talking to her. It’s a welcome invitation.

“Well, I don’t have much for you to do either. Honestly, I thought you’d stay with Vantas for a while longer,” Ms. Aradia teased. I felt my cheeks burn at the jab. I tried to hide it, but I was too pale for that and she laughed a little at my expression.

“He had to go back to his room.” I mumbled. I was embarrassed that somebody had caught on to the fact that I was spending way more time with Mr. Vantas than I should’ve been.

“Well, since I know how much you like spending time with him, why don’t you go ask him if he needs any help.” Ms. Aradia suggested. I felt my face flare up once more as I nodded, becoming more awkward by the second. I sped out of the room and down the hall to the chemistry room, trying to calm down as I went.

I knocked on the door and, as expected, got an exaggerated sigh from Mr. Vantas.

“What do you need?” He asked, his brows setting a little heavy over his eyes, making him look even grouchier than usual.

“I was wondering if you needed help with anything. Ms. Aradia doesn’t need help, so I was able to see if you needed help with anything.” I answered honestly. I was happy to see that I had calmed down a little and my face didn’t seem to be on fire anymore. I did, however, have the minor tingles of past embarrassment.

“Ugh, fine. I don’t have an intern, so I’m sure there’s plenty.” Mr. Vantas eventually said, rolling his eyes and opening the door more so I could walk in.

His room was very different from Ms. Aradia’s. He had a plethora of different things that you would never find in an paleontology room. Chemistry was definitely a completely different subject aside from the fact that it’s a branch of science. He had long counters with multiple buttons and drawers on them and the room smelled almost eerily sterile, like a hospital.

“Here, I need help with this. My projector isn’t working and since you’re a bit taller, I figured you could grab a chair and get up there for me. I just need you to press a few buttons.” He said finally. I nodded and went to pull up one of the chairs. I made sure to be careful, but Mr. Vantas held the chair steady while I balanced myself on it. Damn it, why did he have to have these tall chairs with no backs again?

I pressed the buttons he told me to press without question. After a few tries, the projector lit up and started working like it should. I smiled a little at actually helping and got down from the chair easily.

“Need anything else?” I questioned, rolling on the balls of my feet. He looked really focused and was pretty cute. Stop it, Dave. This is the second time today.

“Nothing major. If you really want to stay that badly, then you can wipe down the tables. The wipes are in drawer A5. You can’t miss them.” He muttered, not looking up from whatever he was doing at his desk. Probably important professor stuff.  
Still, I wiped the tables down and left once the time was up. I headed back to Ms. Aradia’s room feeling a little better about her teasing. I just had to hope that she wouldn’t do that when Mr. Vantas was around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I don't know why Ao3 is glitching so bad. I apologise if you see multiple end notes here. I don't know what's going on ;-;)
> 
> There's the second chapter! I know this took way too long to publish, but it's here now. Thanks to those who actually read this <3 I really appreciate it.
> 
> I promise that this will be one of few filler chapters. I will try to keep said fillers spaced apart from each other. I also can't guarantee how long chapters will take to publish so pleas bear with me.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, there you have it. My second fan fiction on this site. I just randomly got the idea and spent a week typing the first chapter out. It shouldn't be too long before the second chapter is released. I just need to type it up. 
> 
> Anyways, I was rereading Homestuck and found that part where Dave said he liked paleontology and I was like "wow this is a great idea" and started writing about it, then I made it gay and it became a romance story. Davekat has taken over everything.  
> But, in short, this story is about Dave's fascination with dead things, Karkat being Dave's romantic interest, and a whole lot of Dave's awkwardness. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! I'll see you in the next chapter. As always, notify me if you see any mistakes in grammar, spelling, or if you have a suggestion :)


End file.
